5/10NL did run and as you can imagine, was a solid line up. I could only see 2 "fish" there and they werent horrible fish at all. Also 2 new faces I have never seen in a poker room before but they were younger and playing 5/10 so I would assume they were solid.

About the $0.25/hour for comps... ??? I didnt hear anything about comps at all. This sounds horrible and like its a joke but it can be true.

I started the $5/$10 and played in it all night, I thought the lineup was pretty soft. At least five solid fish, and only one player I would say was pretty good. The other two players were just nits.

Confirmed that the rake is $8 a half hour for the $5/$10 which is $2 higher than standard.

Ok my review...

BADRake
Most places are $6 a half hour for $5/$10 and $8 a half hour for $25/$50. Horseshoe charged a rake rate that is standard for a game five times as big. The rake was made even worse by how slow the dealers were in a timed game. To the floors credit though, they gave us a free half our once, but we were still grossly overcharged in rake.
As bad as that rake was, the 200nl rake is an outrage. They need to change it to $1/$3, or change the buy-in rules for people to be able to beat the game. The game caters to fish who just want to socialize and pass money around (which is good business for the casino) but when the fish dry up in a few months, like they always do, all the regulars who won't pay that outrageous rake will have already found another place they feel comfortable playing at, and won't return to a place that has been trying to rape them when the games were good even if they reduce the rake.

Comps
The comps are a complete joke. I can go to Borgata and literally get eight times the comp rate. I didn't eat, but if I was eating I would want to eat at a casino for free since I spend my entire day inside it playing. It costs me $160 in rake to play for 10 hours, and what do I get? $2.50... and that's IF they would have swiped my card in right away, but they didn't and I got $1.75.
That's how you treat your customers? I started $5/$10 game (first guy on the list and I got three people from my $2/$5 game to come over and play so we could start a game) and I get comped less than the change most people have in their couch.
$1440 got raked from that game and assuming everyone swiped in (which they didn't) the total comps were $22.50. At most casinos these numbers would be $1,080 and $90. So they're raking 33% more than a standard rake, and shafting players with 75% less then a standard normal comp.

The Dealers
Very slow very confused.

The Cage
See The Dealers.

The Cocktail Servers
C'mon man.

The Floor
The PA system was complete trash. I can't hear my name or the game being called even when I'm right next to the front desk. That causes games that are ready to never start too because no one knows they're ready.

Enough Gloom, onto the good things about the room...

GOODRoom Quality
The room is well built. I liked how they had bigger games to the right, the cage in a good location, and a close bathroom. The table size is great, and the chairs are fine imo. The pictures on the wall are a nice touch, and the amount of TVs and their location is well played. I also like the color of the room, which I never really thought much about until I played at the Meadows where the room looks dirty to me because of the colors.

The Dealers
Didn't have a single dealer who wasn't friendly and smiling. They also seemed to be more strict with the rules ( if they knew them) and treat the game like less of a home game and more of a casino.

The Floor
The floor knew what they were doing. They were on top of things, making up for other peoples mistakes. Unfortunately, they were rather busy, being that there were lots of mistakes being made - understandably so. They listened to players and did their best to be fair and cater to their needs. Under this management the room will be well run sooner rather than later.

Overall this is not a casino I would recommend to a poker player of any skill level playing any stake under the assumption that they are trying to win money. The high rake and short stack buy-in rules will kill your winrate. Alongside that, I haven't checked the prices on the food menus, but I can promise you that you will be paying them out of pocket the vast majority of the time. Even when all the service gets to its peak performance, these factors make the room unplayable imho. I would suggest driving the extra distance to play at another casino if you are playing a long enough session.

If Jeremy is reading this, #1 problem- dealers who chat with customers before they even deal the hand. Cards siting in front of them. This should NEVER happen.

#2 Someone there needs comping authority. I needed to cash an ATM slip and spent over an HOUR because nobody could get the printer running. Fair enough the room is new, but in that HOUR (after a total fish had sucked out on me and I was urgently trying to get back to win my chips back!) the printer never worked, I was told to go downstairs. They said I had already picked up the money, which really pissed me off. OK for things not to work, but if you're going to comp me $399 Ritz rooms to play you need to have someone authorized to comp me a piece of pizza while you try to figure out how to give me my money, lol.

Drink service alternated from non-existent to amazing. Location matters. servers need to get to the back of the room more.

Not having a drinking fountain irritated me. OK for servers to be slow but not OK to have nowhere to get a sip of water.

I was told it's not "no flop no drop". Multiple dealers said it was $10+ pot get raked regardless.

Rules unevenly applied on selling chips. Sometimes it was "all first buyins need to be bought at cage". Then one dealer spent MOST of her DOWN selling first buyins to 4 players, including needing a refill of her rack to be able to sell to them (WTF?) Need to be consistent- first BI OK at cage, but then need to be able to sell at table.

Nice room, spacious tables (big tables, only 9 seats). Was hard for dealers to pull in chips as tables so large.

.25 comps confirmed. (lol)

Got comped at Ritz but almost got stuck paying for parking. If you get hotel, you need to drop bags off at hotel and park in Casino parking (at this time). Otherwise you get $30/day (or whatever) parking charge.

Ritz was nice. Pool closes at 10 which is very silly for a casino-affiliated hotel. Has nice jacuzzi, sauna, steam room etc. Very cool.

Lots of Nautica regs at my tables. Some total fish. Worst was one guy who doubled up off me a second time with miracle hand. IMMEDIATELY got up and left. Would not play one more hand.

It's VERY important to try and establish that "hit and run" is not cool. Otherwise fish will go eat a piece of pizza, rathole $600 and come back with $80 lol.

Dealers were very nice. Customer service was great (other than no comping authority and the dealers chatting and not dealing)..

Pooled tips is a disaster. I specifically didn't tip good dealers more as there is no point. You got 30% less tips from me because of tip pooling. I thought about boycotting tipping entirely as it's a broken system.

I was told that Shoe CLE dealers were "guinea pigs" for the tip sharing. I reminded dealer of what happens to guinea pigs i the lab. It usually does not end well.

It may be something to think about organizing a boycott of poker room tips to protest the tip sharing. It would hurt dealers some in the short term but in the long term will mean more for them and a better poker room.

This is probably the biggest issue in the room as some dealers were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow, and some were decent. With no incentive to improve the room will really be terrible. Unless you just fire the folks who are slow, but that opens up a world of hassles. Broken system. Say the guinea pigs are ill, and let upper mgmt know before they die.

I may go with a button next time that says "no more tips until I can tip MY dealer!"

Awesome hand at my table last night, crazy action.
$10 straddle, UTG mins to $20, UTG +1 makes it $40. Four callers back to UTG, who now makes it $140.
4 of the 5 players call a hundo, and their is $700+ in the pot before the flop.

Flop A-K-Q rainbow. BB jams for $185. UTG calls. UTG+1 goes allin for $400 and change. 2 others fold, and back to UTG who calls, and rolls over top set.

Nothing like having AA, getting 4 callers at $140, and making your hand. LMFAO.

Played 24 of the first 48 hours in various games. This is my impression so far. I will preface this with the following, I don't think any real fair judgement can be levied on this room until after the weekend games have been experienced and the influx of people coming to "feast" on a new location is gone.

I am a big fan of the room, aesthetically it's the best around. The tables are big, leaving plenty of room for everyone. The chairs are comfortable, however it'd be better if they were on wheels and adjustable, I'm around 5'11" but I felt like I was sitting a little low compared to the table height. The drink service I experienced was incredible, ordered a red bull and got it within a minute, no exaggeration. The floor was excellent, a few seemed a little overwhelmed, but i general they did a great job. Jeremy is very friendly and accessible when in the room, the two times the floor had to make a ruling at my table they made it quickly, confidently, and were happy to explain their ruling politely.

Dealers... if you came into this casino expecting Aria quality dealers, you're delusional and need to be committed. The dealers that dealt $2/$5 and PLO weren't bad and some of them were even good. Very few dealers had a problem calculating the pot which gets 5 Stars in my book because there are dealers in casinos that spread this game regularly at various stakes that still struggle to calculate the pot. (I'm talking regional and the major casinos like Aria/Borgata). Compared to when Mountaineer brought the first poker room to this region the dealers are way ahead of the curve. The Mountaineer experience initially was horrible, I saw a dealer take two exposed cards from a player and make them part of the flop. Cleveland has some dealers who will eventually become very good. A big problem in that room is that their dealer chairs don't seem to adjust, which seems minute but if anyone has ever dealt you know that you need to sit as high as you're comfortable with in order to make it easier for you reach chips etc. (Please, no rebuttals about the Rivers opening, everyone is aware that the best dealers from Mountaineer went there). All in all for what I had prepared myself for the dealers were acceptable outside of a few who felt that when they saw someone they knew that they should engage them in conversation for the duration of their down.

The comps are insulting, .$25/hr is a joke, but people need to take into account that you're getting 17 tier credits an hour for playing poker which is factored into your rating with Caesars. My understand is that it takes 4000 tier credits to attain Platinum with Caesars, which should be easy enough for any regular poker player to attain and maintain which will help you significantly in traveling to any of their properties. I would recommend setting up an account at TotalRewards.com for anyone that is going to be a semi-regular there so it's easier to access your offers and be aware of your tier score and Rewards credit balance. (I am far from a degenerate and actually only blew $500 in Caesars casinos last year in Vegas - along with my limited poker play in Chicago which was maybe 12 hours and I receive free rooms at all properties so this is definitely worth while. In comparison I gambled over 10k, losing 4, at the Aria alone in March and they just sent me 3 free nights, that's it, just three free nights to be used once.) I would hope that food comps, etc will be available once the room dies down. One thing that people are omitting in this forum is that Hollywood Casinos do not comp poker players at all (at least Charles Town). I was told by the poker players in Charles Town to not even bother getting a card because of this, so at least you're getting the $.25 plus the tier credits, even though it should be at least $1.

The games themselves.... meh. I was prepared for the $1/$2 debacle from playing at the Hammond Horseshoe (Chicago). $1/$2 is a nightmare and absolutely unbeatable, the game is tailored to the house and the completely casual player. However, fingers crossed, hopefully this creates a better $2/$5 game like the Chicago market. In Chicago the average player who would buy in for full at a Rivers $1/$3 instead plays $2/$5 and blows a few $300 buy-ins. The problem being that it's Chicago, a totally different market from Cleveland. I would think there's enough money in the greater Cleveland area that this may be possible. The lone con of the isolated poker room that we all love, is the fact that the degenerates that used to make the Nautica games great will never make it passed the blackjack and dice tables on the ground level. I prefer the $500 max $2/$5 because I think if the game is too deep (Reference $1500 max at the Wynn: filled with hoodie wearing, iPad reading/listening, internet introverts sitting on 300bb stacks waiting to feast on the 1 or 2 fish in the game) it turns away a certain demographic and makes the game bad. Either way I play almost all Omaha and do have some complaints about those game structures. $1/$2 is lame, $1/$3 is significantly better, however the $5 straddle makes the game ok. The biggest problem with $1/$2 is the $300 max and the supposed $15 bring in, which turns it into an all-in fest on the turn and takes most of the skill out of PLO. On opening night (early Tuesday morning) we were opening UTG for $8, however on Wednesday afternoon a woman floor person said that the first player into the pot may open for $15. This is a problem for the structure of the game. The cap needs to be raised to $500 immediately if this to be the case. I am a firm believer that the game should be played exact pot size before the flop and then rounded up to a red chip game post flop and I hope this doesn't fall on deaf ears. The $2/$5, can't really complain, $1k or $1500 max on a $2/$5 PLO is pretty standard across the country, the min should be raised to $300 though.

Hopefully the rake issue is addressed but seeing as how $7 a pot was tolerated at Nautica for so long and Charles Town packs 30 tables with the $6 rake, I doubt it. I never had a pot raked pre-flop, hopefully this isn't just dealer error and continues to be regular practice.

All in all it's a work in progress, which is to be expected. The fact that it's a Caesars room will keep me going back. I hope they get things right and I'm sure they will. However, they are fortunate in the fact that they have a monopoly on poker in Cleveland and don't necessarily have to cater to the players but I don't think that it's the company or the room manager's nature to do so.

Comps
The comps are a complete joke. I can go to Borgata and literally get eight times the comp rate. I didn't eat, but if I was eating I would want to eat at a casino for free since I spend my entire day inside it playing. It costs me $160 in rake to play for 10 hours, and what do I get? $2.50... and that's IF they would have swiped my card in right away, but they didn't and I got $1.75.
That's how you treat your customers? I started $5/$10 game (first guy on the list and I got three people from my $2/$5 game to come over and play so we could start a game) and I get comped less than the change most people have in their couch.
$1440 got raked from that game and assuming everyone swiped in (which they didn't) the total comps were $22.50. At most casinos these numbers would be $1,080 and $90. So they're raking 33% more than a standard rake, and shafting players with 75% less then a standard normal comp.

Yeah, the 25 cents is ****ty considering the vast majority of all other Caesars properties does $1/hr.

I just wouldn't compare them to Borgata. Borg and all of AC can get away with giving away so much because they're trying to retain customers.

As I've said with the $6 rake, Caesars is abusing the Cleveland monopoly.

If rake was $5 (pretty standard outside AC/Vegas) and the comps were $1/hr (Caesars' own standard pretty much elsewhere), and the dealers would get to keep their own tips (instead of this pooling garbage), things would be better.

One thing that people are omitting in this forum is that Hollywood Casinos do not comp poker players at all (at least Charles Town). I was told by the poker players in Charles Town to not even bother getting a card because of this, so at least you're getting the $.25 plus the tier credits, even though it should be at least $1.

This may be true for Charles Town but is not true across all Hollywood properties. I play at the Hollywood in Lawrenceburg, Indiana and they comp $1/hr.

Not sure where that would be if you want to play 2/5 or higher.
The Rivers? Presq Isle? Wheeling? Meadows? Mountaineer? None of them have these games.

I guess if you have time to drive 6 hours to Borgata, or the Parx, you are in business.

Detroit, Charlestown, and Rivers $1/$3 imho is as good as Horseshoe's $2/$5 when you factor in the comps, dealers, and rake. Also, there is a chance you can actually play $2/$5 - I know I'm always on the list!

Detroit, Charlestown, and Rivers $1/$3 imho is as good as Horseshoe's $2/$5 when you factor in the comps, dealers, and rake

IMO, the Rivers 1/3 is no where near the 2/5 at Cleveland. Yesterday the Rivers had 9 tables running, the horseshoe was full at 30. How many of those 9 tables were action or regs?
With the weekend here it will be absolute chaos at Cleveland!!